Nauru toy appeal strikes a chord

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young says she is overwhelmed by the generosity of Australians from right around the country who have donated toys for children in detention on Nauru.

Senator Hanson-Young set up her toy collection after visiting the detention centre on the remote Pacific island last month, and since then she says many hundreds of toys have been received from individuals, lots from children themselves, and even some toy companies have donated.

"When I visited the detention centre in December I was just struck as to how the children were surviving in the terrible conditions in the camps," she told Pacific Beat.

"Really my heart was broken by a four-year-old girl from Iran.

After hanging on to my hand for about an hour as I was speaking to the other children, she finally got out that they had no toys at all in the camp.

And I thought well if that's the least I can do, I should go and make sure that we can provide some toys for these children to play with.

There's nothing else for them to do in the detention camp. It's hot, it's barren, they live on gravel in big tents. Some toys, in the short term, will make a lot of difference to the lives of these children."

Senator Hanson-Young says the children are in surroundings that are totally alien to them, and it is impossible for them to make their own fun.

"They live in guarded tents. All there is is white gravel on the ground. They can't climb trees, they can't go for a swim at the beach, they can't make up a game on an oval or go for walk in the bush.

Anything we can do to try to help the mental health of these children while they're in incredibly inhumane conditions, the Australian government, the Australian people, should make sure we treat these children with a little more care.

Senator Hanson-Young says she was struck by an incredible sense of confusion and anxiety among the children about why they're on Nauru.

"They want to know how long they're going to be detained," she says.

"How long are they going to be locked up for, what have they done wrong and why don't people care about them?

Having toys donated by Australians and sent to them in Nauru will give a very real sense that there are people who care about them as children and believe that they do deserve to be cared for."

The contractors who run the detention centre agreed to allow the toys to be sent in when the matter was raised during the senator's visit.

They are being taken to Nauru in batches by workers who fly on and off the island.

Donations are still coming in every day, and Senator Hanson-Young says if there is an over supply, then the remainder will be distributed to other detention centres, including Christmas Island.